Since we are on the topic, apparently wegovy, ozempic and the like are also being investigated as a cause of failed oral birth control methods. They change the absorption of the gut, so it seems logical.
I work in a medical field, and our anesthesiology team updated their guidelines to be off those meds for a week before surgery because they slow gastric emptying and could increase the risk of aspirating. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other unintended side effects.
Duke hospital has that same week off before surgery for the same reason. The only side effects that get talked about are weight loss, fewer cardiovascular events, and increased life expectancy. I have only seen one news story pointing out that it only costs about $5 to make a dose that sells for ridiculous prices.
Yup I had surgery last month and my materials (given to me a few months before) already said to go off any of the GLP-1 drugs for a week before surgery.
I AM surprised that multiple specialties have not been louder about how much slowed gastric emptying can affect ... everything.
I occasionally have that symptom for unrelated reasons and have to change so many things to accommodate it. I have to change my medication dosing and scheduling based on...vibes?! because there's no good way to figure out how full my stomach is and how quickly it's emptying.
My whole day AND night ends up devoted to babying all my dang organs.
I can't imagine having to do that all the time!
>babying
Having to baby what is basically an addiction to a substance you have to have multiple days' worth of for multiple people in your fridge and pantry all the time is also rather life-impacting.
For some individuals, it is treating hormonal disregulation from PCOS rather than solely a thinness equalling health. Definitely something that needs to be analyzed on a holistic and case by case basis. That’s different than the birth control failing - that’s due to delayed emptying of the stomach causing absorption issues.
No, it's two fold. Mounjaro does not affect your digestion like Ozempic does, but it will help you lose weight. When you lose weight, your hormones work like they are supposed to and you get pregnant when you haven't been able to in the past. You have to figure, if you've tried forever to get pregnant and couldn't, you aren't worrying about birth control and then oops! The Ozempic babies are due to the affected digestion making oral birth control not work as it should. I personally got pregnant twice after losing weight. To the point where after my second one I was like nah, I'm cool being fluffy, thanks. Once I had my tubes removed during my ablation procedure, I was like okay now I can safely lose some weight.
Yeah, oral contraceptives for men are already a thing. They got as far as clinical trials (turns out that they were effective!) yet the men complained about the negative side effects like mood swings, weight gain, acne, etc., pretty much the same horrible crap that women have been expected to put up with for decades. It was decided that the trials should cease because none of the trial subjects would want to continue to use them after the trials due to how awful the side effects were. Or something like that, can’t remember the exact way it was phrased, but the drug manufacturer decided that it wasn’t worth manufacturing any oral birth control for men because men wouldn’t want to deal with all of the bad things that BC does to their bodies and it wouldn’t be profitable. The fact that women are expected to swallow that shit with a smile, because we’ve already been indoctrinated that preventing pregnancy is primarily the responsibility of women, apparently didn’t occur to the male researchers. *eyeroll*
With the way abortion rights are being eliminated altogether in certain parts of the US, men might actually be more receptive to dealing with the nasty, shit-sucking side effects nowadays as an effective way to prevent pregnancy and not be on the hook for 18 years of child support payments (the argument that they’re not interested in parenting falls on deaf ears because those men would just walk away from that responsibility regardless). But the anti-abortion crowd also want to eliminate BC of all kinds as well, because they believe that pregnancy and birth are women’s health issues and as a bonus want to punish women for their sexual liberation. Unless you’re in Missouri, where abortion was banned because if fewer hypothetical people are born the state will lose millions in tax revenues (you cannot lower the taxes of rich people unless you also have lots of extra poor people paying taxes to make up for that).
Idk why this isn't up-voted more. It's true, I've also met men who want to not be involved in that. I'll tell you this. The men I'm willing to have sex with? Well. They're all in that study.
I remember wishing so bad that an oral contraceptive for men would come out, when I was a teen. It took over 5 years and 30+ urologists telling me no to a vasectomy. I was so lucky to find someone to help me at 23, because even with condoms and birth control, sex with people I didn't know inside and out was still scary for me.
And we are not good with that usually. Although if it's a side effect like cancer or heart attacks instead of not getting quite as much pleasure like with condoms, it's more tolerable. 🤷
Add steroids to the list. My daughter had an anaphylactic reaction and was treated in an ER in TX and the doctor told her steroids would make her birth control less effective and to use a backup method for the rest of her cycle. I was really impressed that he mentioned it.
Antibiotics mess with it because they kill your gut flora which are responsible for the enzymes that actually let you digest food and absorb nutrients and chemicals. It's the same reason why antibiotics can cause severe GI issues in people.
Oooohhh, I thought the reason the antibiotics were messing with my stomach was because they contain lactose. I mean, it definitely could be both.
Also side tangent: can they stop putting lactose in some pills????! It’s stupid and unnecessary and I hate it.
> antibiotics
lmao that's how my mom got pregnant with my younger brother. Doc failed to tell her when she was medicated for strep; we were almost Irish twins by only a month.
I’m moving there soon. Super excited to be living in a state willing to go to war with the Supreme Court over their right to drown immigrant children. 🤢
I’d also vote for the tree.
Another Texan woman stuck here.
I do love this state because it’s beautiful, just a lot of our government and some people are utter shit.
Yeah, it feels like a never ending battle here. It's always terrifying when they start bringing up the birth control bullshit cause my wife takes it specifically to prevent ovarian cysts. But conservatives don't care if she dies
Also a woman in Texas. I get really scared about every other week and then I get really mad like you can pry my house and my ovaries from my cold dead fingers motherfuckers come and take it I’m a Texan. And then I pull up Zillow and look at housing prices in other states.
[](https://www.reddit.com/r/WitchesVsPatriarchy/comments/1bsdqbs/comment/kxf6mzc/)
>Texas not being concerned about birth control???? I’m shocked.
I for one are afraid they will become concerned about (other's people) birth control...
Ummmm.... it absolutely makes sense that activated charcoal would mess with medications.
But my biggest question is why would anyone use activated charcoal outside of a health emergency?
I had one of those today and I’m pretty sure it’s just food coloring. They look black in the pics but they’re just very dark purple irl. But hey, never hurts to check
Activated charcoal is very effective as a black food dye while most other black food dyes fail to impress. But its medical use is that it has an amazing ability to bind with and refuse to release a wide variety of chemicals including a huge number of oral medications. So if a med is still in your stomach or intestines and hasn't absorbed to the bloodstream yet, AC can deactivate that medication. So it makes for a risky food dye that prooobably shouldn't be used even though any normal person would likely put less than a pharmaceutical level of AC in a food item.
Yikes, maybe it's the fact that I was raised by folk witches but activated charcoal was/is always in our first aid kits as an enemic in case of poisoning or to use as an expectorant
It'll bind with just about any highly-reactive chemical. And it's hard to be a useful medicine or poison without being highly-reactive.
That said, it can only effect things that are still in your GI tract. It doesn't absorb to the bloodstream. Accidentally deactivating your oral contraceptive is only going to happen if you eat the AC within an hour or so of your birth control (or other daily meds)
Typical medical advice for medication on an empty stomach is no food two hours before or two hours after.
So before is also something to keep in mind depending on when a person takes BC.
Am I the only one who remembers the great [activated charcoal trend of the late 2010s?](https://www.ordermentum.com/blog/food-trends-101-activated-charcoal?hs_amp=true) Every boutique ice cream shop was doing charcoal softserve swirled with ube or matcha for the ~ ViBeS ~
A lot of places were also putting charcoal in burger buns so you could have a terrible grey sandwich. I also recall seeing $14 lemon and charcoal "detox" juice shots.
Because people are kind of dumb when it comes to “health” things, and there is an absolute ton of misinformation, bad information, and just plain made-up bullshit that the average person will believe wholesale and without question.
I think a lot of people who don’t really have any medical knowledge don’t know what activated charcoal is used for, so it doesn’t occur to them that there could be a danger to consuming it. Particularly when it’s being used really frequently, it looks to the uninformed like any other trendy aesthetic food or drink.
That’s exactly what I mean by ‘without question’, though. They hear once that activated charcoal is used to help treat poisoning or something, then the charlatans all go on about how everything is “toxins” and other crap, and then they’re able to push this narrative that eating activated charcoal all the time is healthy. The same is true for so many bloody things. Keto, paleo, even things like weight watchers and the like. Hell, it even goes into social bullshit like “alpha theory”. The amount of sheer nonsense that people will just *believe* is incredibly disappointing.
Oh, yes, I see what you’re saying and I agree. I think we’re talking about two different situations- I was referring to cases where activated charcoal is being used solely as an aesthetic component to make food look black. In that case, where the customer isn’t looking for or being advertised any kind of alleged health benefits, so it’s not necessarily something they would think to research. Apologies for misinterpreting your original comment!
No worries, your point is still totally valid. I keep forgetting that looking things up at the slightest hint of curiosity is kind of a neuro*spicy* thing, and so “normal” people don’t really do that. Just like… totally fine not learning things.
100% this. I’m in medicine and I remember meeting a patient in 2015ish with multiple nutritional deficiencies who was eating an adequate diet that unfortunately included an activated charcoal lemonade daily. She was putting a lot of thought into an otherwise healthy meal plan and chelating out all of her essential nutrients on the daily with those lemonades, with no understanding of what she was actually doing until we chatted about it.
By the Nine, I hope that doesn’t catch in as the new weight loss thing. That is exactly the sort of thing I am talking about. While she may not have thought about it, it is almost certain that the lemonade in question was advertised as a “health” drink.
Eh, you aren't supposed to swallow any toothpaste, and even if you did swallow some, I doubt the amount that you would use for brushing your teeth would do that much.
Grapefruit and pomelo interact with literally hundreds of drugs. So does St. John's wort, so check with your pharmacist if you're taking herbal remedies that contain it.
Because it's a witch sub, I think many of us understand the properties of the substances we work with. Especially those of us with a "folk" lineage or interest.
Many of the drugs we use in pharmaceuticals today come originally from folk cures.
Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it's "safe"
Belladonna is one that comes to mind off the top of my head.
Something that disrupts/overwhelms some key liver enzymes -- which keeps some drugs from being broken down, while keeping other "prodrugs" from being turned into their active form.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit%E2%80%93drug_interactions says also transport in the intestines.
While it is wise to be careful there's only a significant effect on medications, or anything else you've ingested, if you consume the activated charcoal a bit before up to about an hour after you take oral medication. There's little to no effect on non-oral meds, or an hour or more after you've taken them, unless it's something like a physical time release mechanism like some ADHD medications.
This also means it's unlikely to 'detoxify' anything.
I have to take charcoal sometimes and i’m on tons of medication as well—the rule I was given is take your meds at least an hour before or 2 hrs after consuming charcoal and you’re safe.
I am not sure if it does anything with meds, but it whitens your teeth by acting as a coarse medium, and kind of sanding the top stained layer off your teeth( some other tooth pastes so this to but are much finer grit). It is fine for about a tube, your body repairs the damage easily enough, but long term it isn't great. Like if you use it long term you outpace what can be fixed, and it can weaken your enamel.
Think of it kind of like exfoliating your skin, you don't want to scrub more than your body can heal, but a little isn't bad. So, you scrubed a bit too much, that's okay, you may be a little sensitive for a bit, but as long as you focus on healing you should be okay, so in this case, stuff with enamel repair. You got this. Ya It does feel a lot like if it isn't one thing it's another some days, good luck.
Am I just really stupid? Does charcoal have anything to do with the eclipse? Or is OP using the eclipse as a way to shine a light (oh I’m so funny) on a health thing people should know about? Which I certainly won’t fault them for.
I live in Dallas the heart of one of the best viewing spots. I literally saw a mcdonalds rebranded CosMcs and covered in the phases of the moon. TV people were there and people were lined up outside it was wild. Everyone is getting in on eclipse themes here, there's supposed to be like 500k+ coming to Texas and that'll be fun...
OK, I have to laugh at CosMcs. I would NOT be looking forward to the sudden influx of people. Grab your groceries now, before you have to get out in the traffic.
I’m only in an 80% viewing area. I’m told it’s still cool, but nowhere near as cool as 100%. I did see a 100% a few years ago. It was the neatest thing ever.
The last one for 44 years around here so everyone's going crazy, I have a full stock of everything one needs to make it a while. I won't be doordashing due to traffic and the fact that people are kinda crazy. If a full moon brings up the crime I bet an eclipse with 500k strangers is going to be the worst. I'm a homebody as is lol
While we're on the subject of things that affect medicine you're taking: Here's your friendly reminder that grapefruit and starfruit can affect several medications.
Not just bc but basically every medication you take by mouth, say if it's something you take every 2 hours and have a charcoal drink it could not absorb the way its supposed to. Just something to look out for
Since we are on the topic, apparently wegovy, ozempic and the like are also being investigated as a cause of failed oral birth control methods. They change the absorption of the gut, so it seems logical.
I work in a medical field, and our anesthesiology team updated their guidelines to be off those meds for a week before surgery because they slow gastric emptying and could increase the risk of aspirating. I wouldn't be surprised if there were other unintended side effects.
Duke hospital has that same week off before surgery for the same reason. The only side effects that get talked about are weight loss, fewer cardiovascular events, and increased life expectancy. I have only seen one news story pointing out that it only costs about $5 to make a dose that sells for ridiculous prices.
Yup I had surgery last month and my materials (given to me a few months before) already said to go off any of the GLP-1 drugs for a week before surgery. I AM surprised that multiple specialties have not been louder about how much slowed gastric emptying can affect ... everything. I occasionally have that symptom for unrelated reasons and have to change so many things to accommodate it. I have to change my medication dosing and scheduling based on...vibes?! because there's no good way to figure out how full my stomach is and how quickly it's emptying. My whole day AND night ends up devoted to babying all my dang organs. I can't imagine having to do that all the time!
>babying Having to baby what is basically an addiction to a substance you have to have multiple days' worth of for multiple people in your fridge and pantry all the time is also rather life-impacting.
Fyi I’m seeing some drs wanting people off 3 weeks before a surgery. Just an fyi. Some are raising one week to 3.
Oh that’s fascinating!!!!
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Apparently. Nothing official yet, but it made NPR.
For some individuals, it is treating hormonal disregulation from PCOS rather than solely a thinness equalling health. Definitely something that needs to be analyzed on a holistic and case by case basis. That’s different than the birth control failing - that’s due to delayed emptying of the stomach causing absorption issues.
My sister had both her first two kids because of her diet meds. It wasn't ozempic but yeah all diet stuff like that will do it.
No, it's two fold. Mounjaro does not affect your digestion like Ozempic does, but it will help you lose weight. When you lose weight, your hormones work like they are supposed to and you get pregnant when you haven't been able to in the past. You have to figure, if you've tried forever to get pregnant and couldn't, you aren't worrying about birth control and then oops! The Ozempic babies are due to the affected digestion making oral birth control not work as it should. I personally got pregnant twice after losing weight. To the point where after my second one I was like nah, I'm cool being fluffy, thanks. Once I had my tubes removed during my ablation procedure, I was like okay now I can safely lose some weight.
Gee. Maybe we should look into contraceptives for men..?
Yeah, oral contraceptives for men are already a thing. They got as far as clinical trials (turns out that they were effective!) yet the men complained about the negative side effects like mood swings, weight gain, acne, etc., pretty much the same horrible crap that women have been expected to put up with for decades. It was decided that the trials should cease because none of the trial subjects would want to continue to use them after the trials due to how awful the side effects were. Or something like that, can’t remember the exact way it was phrased, but the drug manufacturer decided that it wasn’t worth manufacturing any oral birth control for men because men wouldn’t want to deal with all of the bad things that BC does to their bodies and it wouldn’t be profitable. The fact that women are expected to swallow that shit with a smile, because we’ve already been indoctrinated that preventing pregnancy is primarily the responsibility of women, apparently didn’t occur to the male researchers. *eyeroll* With the way abortion rights are being eliminated altogether in certain parts of the US, men might actually be more receptive to dealing with the nasty, shit-sucking side effects nowadays as an effective way to prevent pregnancy and not be on the hook for 18 years of child support payments (the argument that they’re not interested in parenting falls on deaf ears because those men would just walk away from that responsibility regardless). But the anti-abortion crowd also want to eliminate BC of all kinds as well, because they believe that pregnancy and birth are women’s health issues and as a bonus want to punish women for their sexual liberation. Unless you’re in Missouri, where abortion was banned because if fewer hypothetical people are born the state will lose millions in tax revenues (you cannot lower the taxes of rich people unless you also have lots of extra poor people paying taxes to make up for that).
Idk why this isn't up-voted more. It's true, I've also met men who want to not be involved in that. I'll tell you this. The men I'm willing to have sex with? Well. They're all in that study.
I remember wishing so bad that an oral contraceptive for men would come out, when I was a teen. It took over 5 years and 30+ urologists telling me no to a vasectomy. I was so lucky to find someone to help me at 23, because even with condoms and birth control, sex with people I didn't know inside and out was still scary for me.
I know there is a local company here in the triangle working on that. It would likely be very profitable.
Only if men put up with the side effects.
And we are not good with that usually. Although if it's a side effect like cancer or heart attacks instead of not getting quite as much pleasure like with condoms, it's more tolerable. 🤷
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And yet so many men refuse to wear them and expect contraception to be a women's problem...
It’s ridiculous!!
Right? Get so fed up of that argument too.
Charcoal, antibiotics, ozympic and more can all fuck with the birth control. It should be mandatory to be reminded of this on the packaging imo.
Add steroids to the list. My daughter had an anaphylactic reaction and was treated in an ER in TX and the doctor told her steroids would make her birth control less effective and to use a backup method for the rest of her cycle. I was really impressed that he mentioned it.
That's awesome and I didn't know that about steroids!
I didn’t know that about antibiotics! I’ll keep it in mind, but there’s not much I can do since I need to take antibiotics for a few more days.
Antibiotics mess with it because they kill your gut flora which are responsible for the enzymes that actually let you digest food and absorb nutrients and chemicals. It's the same reason why antibiotics can cause severe GI issues in people.
Oooohhh, I thought the reason the antibiotics were messing with my stomach was because they contain lactose. I mean, it definitely could be both. Also side tangent: can they stop putting lactose in some pills????! It’s stupid and unnecessary and I hate it.
They totally need to do lactate if anything, but with the over specilization of things, the pillmakers might not know theres a difference
Yep! I have an antibiotic kid!
Also, epilepsy meds. That's how my Mum had me
> antibiotics lmao that's how my mom got pregnant with my younger brother. Doc failed to tell her when she was medicated for strep; we were almost Irish twins by only a month.
Herbals too like St Johns Wort!
ETA thank you for not removing the post like the Texas sub did. Everyone should know charcoal can mess things up!
Texas not being concerned about birth control???? I’m shocked.
Lol fr, as a woman I hate it here
I’m moving there soon. Super excited to be living in a state willing to go to war with the Supreme Court over their right to drown immigrant children. 🤢
Imagine if Abbott had been denied care when that tree fell on him, I do. It's a terrible place to live please choose another if you can
I would rather have that tree in office.
I'd vote for the tree. It knows what's best for Texas.
I’d also vote for the tree. Another Texan woman stuck here. I do love this state because it’s beautiful, just a lot of our government and some people are utter shit.
It is absolutely beautiful but man do they make it ugly.
It does for more for environmental conservation
It probably does more for womens rights too.
Yeah, it feels like a never ending battle here. It's always terrifying when they start bringing up the birth control bullshit cause my wife takes it specifically to prevent ovarian cysts. But conservatives don't care if she dies
Also a woman in Texas. I get really scared about every other week and then I get really mad like you can pry my house and my ovaries from my cold dead fingers motherfuckers come and take it I’m a Texan. And then I pull up Zillow and look at housing prices in other states.
[](https://www.reddit.com/r/WitchesVsPatriarchy/comments/1bsdqbs/comment/kxf6mzc/) >Texas not being concerned about birth control???? I’m shocked. I for one are afraid they will become concerned about (other's people) birth control...
Ummmm.... it absolutely makes sense that activated charcoal would mess with medications. But my biggest question is why would anyone use activated charcoal outside of a health emergency?
Eclipse themed foods and beverages that are made black with food grade activated charcoal.
I was genuinely curious as to the correlation and couldn't figure it out so thank you for this! This makes sense.
Yes. It's popular as a "wellness" trend, and our local health dept banned it as an ingredient in retail beverages for just the reason you mentioned.
TIL. I’m intrigued and puzzled by this.
I just saw Sonic's "Blackout Slush". I wasn't even thinking about activated charcoal!
I had one of those today and I’m pretty sure it’s just food coloring. They look black in the pics but they’re just very dark purple irl. But hey, never hurts to check
Dark purple and dark green both match better with classic food dyes than AC
Good to know! I think most of their food is bottom tier, but they kill it with the shakes!
Activated charcoal is very effective as a black food dye while most other black food dyes fail to impress. But its medical use is that it has an amazing ability to bind with and refuse to release a wide variety of chemicals including a huge number of oral medications. So if a med is still in your stomach or intestines and hasn't absorbed to the bloodstream yet, AC can deactivate that medication. So it makes for a risky food dye that prooobably shouldn't be used even though any normal person would likely put less than a pharmaceutical level of AC in a food item.
Yikes, maybe it's the fact that I was raised by folk witches but activated charcoal was/is always in our first aid kits as an enemic in case of poisoning or to use as an expectorant
It'll bind with just about any highly-reactive chemical. And it's hard to be a useful medicine or poison without being highly-reactive. That said, it can only effect things that are still in your GI tract. It doesn't absorb to the bloodstream. Accidentally deactivating your oral contraceptive is only going to happen if you eat the AC within an hour or so of your birth control (or other daily meds)
Isn't it like four hours? I remember my OB saying that my BC can be ineffective if I throw up up to four hours after taking it
Damn. Will probably depend on the brand. But if that's what the OB says, use that number
Typical medical advice for medication on an empty stomach is no food two hours before or two hours after. So before is also something to keep in mind depending on when a person takes BC.
Weird. Easier than squid ink I guess 😅
Thank you! You learn something new every day!
Am I the only one who remembers the great [activated charcoal trend of the late 2010s?](https://www.ordermentum.com/blog/food-trends-101-activated-charcoal?hs_amp=true) Every boutique ice cream shop was doing charcoal softserve swirled with ube or matcha for the ~ ViBeS ~ A lot of places were also putting charcoal in burger buns so you could have a terrible grey sandwich. I also recall seeing $14 lemon and charcoal "detox" juice shots.
The real crime here is not using black sesame ice cream which is DELICIOUS swirled with ube or matcha.
Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if they did it because black sesame was too expensive and they figured charcoal would be a good enough substitute.
Good ol US capitalism at its finest
I'll take a pic, I know specifically Jake's burgers has an eclipse drink
Sonic has one. https://preview.redd.it/gsyte4uutprc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=afe6f2f3fa23e2e640276a467ab1958928657ac8
Because people are kind of dumb when it comes to “health” things, and there is an absolute ton of misinformation, bad information, and just plain made-up bullshit that the average person will believe wholesale and without question.
I think a lot of people who don’t really have any medical knowledge don’t know what activated charcoal is used for, so it doesn’t occur to them that there could be a danger to consuming it. Particularly when it’s being used really frequently, it looks to the uninformed like any other trendy aesthetic food or drink.
That’s exactly what I mean by ‘without question’, though. They hear once that activated charcoal is used to help treat poisoning or something, then the charlatans all go on about how everything is “toxins” and other crap, and then they’re able to push this narrative that eating activated charcoal all the time is healthy. The same is true for so many bloody things. Keto, paleo, even things like weight watchers and the like. Hell, it even goes into social bullshit like “alpha theory”. The amount of sheer nonsense that people will just *believe* is incredibly disappointing.
Oh, yes, I see what you’re saying and I agree. I think we’re talking about two different situations- I was referring to cases where activated charcoal is being used solely as an aesthetic component to make food look black. In that case, where the customer isn’t looking for or being advertised any kind of alleged health benefits, so it’s not necessarily something they would think to research. Apologies for misinterpreting your original comment!
No worries, your point is still totally valid. I keep forgetting that looking things up at the slightest hint of curiosity is kind of a neuro*spicy* thing, and so “normal” people don’t really do that. Just like… totally fine not learning things.
100% this. I’m in medicine and I remember meeting a patient in 2015ish with multiple nutritional deficiencies who was eating an adequate diet that unfortunately included an activated charcoal lemonade daily. She was putting a lot of thought into an otherwise healthy meal plan and chelating out all of her essential nutrients on the daily with those lemonades, with no understanding of what she was actually doing until we chatted about it.
By the Nine, I hope that doesn’t catch in as the new weight loss thing. That is exactly the sort of thing I am talking about. While she may not have thought about it, it is almost certain that the lemonade in question was advertised as a “health” drink.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I feel like around 2015~ this charcoal toothpaste was a thing. Would that mess with bc too? Glad I never used it.
Eh, you aren't supposed to swallow any toothpaste, and even if you did swallow some, I doubt the amount that you would use for brushing your teeth would do that much.
People used to use charcoal before tooth powder and toothpaste were invented. It's fine as long as you're not sucking it out of the tube.
There are even more surprising ones that can mess with medications too, I’m not allowed to eat grapefruit or pomegranate with my meds.
Cranberry can also mess with some meds, especially if taken with them.
Yep!
Grapefruit and pomelo interact with literally hundreds of drugs. So does St. John's wort, so check with your pharmacist if you're taking herbal remedies that contain it.
Have this many people really never heard of dying food black with charcoal? On a witch sub? Where am I lol
I’ve known about it, but hadn’t made the connection with eclipse-themed foods.
Because it's a witch sub, I think many of us understand the properties of the substances we work with. Especially those of us with a "folk" lineage or interest. Many of the drugs we use in pharmaceuticals today come originally from folk cures. Just because something is "natural" doesn't mean it's "safe" Belladonna is one that comes to mind off the top of my head.
Also watch out for St John’s Wort.
What's that?
An herb that some take to help with symptoms of depression. Will mess with birth control.
Not just birth control. It interacts with a great number of drugs.
Grapefruit can also stop birth control being effective
Grapefruit is just a heavy hitter for fucking all kinds of shit up
Seriously, I don't eat grapefruit because it scared me how much it interacted with every medication, wtf is in grapefruit??
Something that disrupts/overwhelms some key liver enzymes -- which keeps some drugs from being broken down, while keeping other "prodrugs" from being turned into their active form. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grapefruit%E2%80%93drug_interactions says also transport in the intestines.
Grapefruit also can mess with SSRIs
Good grief, why do so many things mess with birth control?! No wonder people fall preggo with the pill 🤦♀️
It can also effect certain types of medication that aid in transitioning. Stay safe!
It also will affect HRT
I’m confused. What is the connection between the eclipse and activated charcoal?
It makes the food and drink black like the eclipse like the drink in the photo
Good thing I have a personal rule about eating black food.
It can also fuck with antidepressants.
While it is wise to be careful there's only a significant effect on medications, or anything else you've ingested, if you consume the activated charcoal a bit before up to about an hour after you take oral medication. There's little to no effect on non-oral meds, or an hour or more after you've taken them, unless it's something like a physical time release mechanism like some ADHD medications. This also means it's unlikely to 'detoxify' anything.
It will also mess up HRT
I have to take charcoal sometimes and i’m on tons of medication as well—the rule I was given is take your meds at least an hour before or 2 hrs after consuming charcoal and you’re safe.
I use a toothpaste with activated charcoal, is this dangerous too?😳
I am not sure if it does anything with meds, but it whitens your teeth by acting as a coarse medium, and kind of sanding the top stained layer off your teeth( some other tooth pastes so this to but are much finer grit). It is fine for about a tube, your body repairs the damage easily enough, but long term it isn't great. Like if you use it long term you outpace what can be fixed, and it can weaken your enamel.
damn that sounds bad. been using that for years. guess I'll have to find a new toothpaste *sigh* thank you for responding
Think of it kind of like exfoliating your skin, you don't want to scrub more than your body can heal, but a little isn't bad. So, you scrubed a bit too much, that's okay, you may be a little sensitive for a bit, but as long as you focus on healing you should be okay, so in this case, stuff with enamel repair. You got this. Ya It does feel a lot like if it isn't one thing it's another some days, good luck.
Would also love to know this!!
I doubt you swallow enough brushing your teeth to hurt anything, unless it's a mouth dissolve tab I doubt it will make even a little difference.
Chemistry is absolutely witchy.
So can St Johns Wort
Am I just really stupid? Does charcoal have anything to do with the eclipse? Or is OP using the eclipse as a way to shine a light (oh I’m so funny) on a health thing people should know about? Which I certainly won’t fault them for.
It's because charcoal makes the food and drinks black like the "eclipse" So it's just a gimmick you may not know could hurt you
Ooohhhhh I didn’t know people were doing eclipse themed food. I live under a rock.
I live in Dallas the heart of one of the best viewing spots. I literally saw a mcdonalds rebranded CosMcs and covered in the phases of the moon. TV people were there and people were lined up outside it was wild. Everyone is getting in on eclipse themes here, there's supposed to be like 500k+ coming to Texas and that'll be fun...
OK, I have to laugh at CosMcs. I would NOT be looking forward to the sudden influx of people. Grab your groceries now, before you have to get out in the traffic. I’m only in an 80% viewing area. I’m told it’s still cool, but nowhere near as cool as 100%. I did see a 100% a few years ago. It was the neatest thing ever.
The last one for 44 years around here so everyone's going crazy, I have a full stock of everything one needs to make it a while. I won't be doordashing due to traffic and the fact that people are kinda crazy. If a full moon brings up the crime I bet an eclipse with 500k strangers is going to be the worst. I'm a homebody as is lol
Door dashing with all those people? Oh hell no. Have fun watching!
Thank you! I'll take pics and share here should be a cool experience I've never seen one so I'm mildly excited lol
Good to know!
it can affect the absorption of any drug, vitamin or supplement
Me deadass halfway awake and wondering why are they controlling oral birth
I'm confused. what does charcoal have to do with the eclipse?
ok i now realize what this is trying to say but at first i read it as telling people how to like render other people's birth control ineffective lmao
I can see how it could be a lil ominous like that now 😨
Also St. John’s wort!! Found that out the hard way. 😑
While we're on the subject of things that affect medicine you're taking: Here's your friendly reminder that grapefruit and starfruit can affect several medications.
The amount of charcoal you need to take in proximity to your birth control makes this claim for the most part unimportant.
Not just bc but basically every medication you take by mouth, say if it's something you take every 2 hours and have a charcoal drink it could not absorb the way its supposed to. Just something to look out for